What About the Great Jews Throughout History Who Were Not Originally Jewish?

Indeed, many great Jews were not originally Jewish. For example, Rabbi Akiva was born a non-Jew, but became the Jewish people’s leading teacher in his time. King David, renowned as Israel’s greatest king, had a non-Jewish great grandmother, Ruth. Also, Onkelos, a well-known Torah commentator, was originally a Roman who converted to Judaism and translated the Torah into Aramaic, a translation that is highly regarded to this day.

Becoming a great Jew has no connection to whether or not one was born Jewish. If we wish to come closer to the Creator, i.e., the upper force of love, bestowal and connection, and accept upon ourselves the laws stated in the Torah, we then become Jewish.

As it is written, “the Hebrew word for ‘Jew’ [Yehudi] comes from the word for ‘united’ [yihudi]” (Yaarot Devash, Part 2, Drush no. 2). For this reason, we welcome, respect, love and honor anybody who wishes to enter into this spiritual unity.

We can think of the Torah as a navigation device that lets anyone who wishes to come closer to the Creator achieve their wish. If we initially feel such a longing—to come closer to the Creator—and follow it through to learn about where that longing came from and why, then we eventually reach the understanding that the Creator Himself embedded this desire into us. He calls upon certain people to come closer to Him. Such people become introduced to—and apply to themselves—the laws and conditions stated in the Torah.

The conversion process to become Jewish is an acceptance of the obligation to fulfill the conditions to draw closer to the Creator. Then, as we see with such examples as Rabbi Akiva and King David, people who become Jewish can also become great Jewish leaders of their generations, higher than Jews with a consistent bloodline. Moreover, the latter are not offended or intimidated by such leaders. Anyone who becomes Jewish is fully Jewish, and even a bit more, because they came from the outside and made an effort.